I'd like to give money to make this not happen. Quick, somebody create KickStopper.

"Jane is known for games with complex, dark plotlines ala Dan Brown." (Brrrrrrr.)

Just start a kickstarter project and promise to do everything in your power to make sure that project fails.

FUCK YOU, GUYS. She is the creator of the best goddamn graphic adventure series ever, and for that alone she deserves a truck full of money. I will pledge to her project with my highest Kickstarter contribution yet. Besides, it's pretty obvious from the video that the Dan Brown mention is a joke.

I've actually never played the Gabriel Knight games, I'd heard mostly good things. Is she really such a polarizing figure?

As previously said the GK3 puzzles were fucking ridiculous. The daddy of adventure games Ron Gilbert is known for saying that GK3 was one of the milestones that indicated the genre had killed itself.

Apologies it was old man murray (gilbert linked to the story). Read this link's description of a Gabriel Knight 3 puzzle and come to terms with the fucking horrific puzzle design. http://www.oldmanmurray.com/features/77.html

To be fair, that's a very convoluted contrived puzzle, and definitely not worthy of the GK series. there's nothing silly like that in either GK1 or GK2, so it sounds like whomever they assigned the puzzle to fscked it up, big time.

and honestly, convoluted contrived puzzles has been the hallmark of adventure games anyway. babel fish from hitchhikers guide anyone? From the wiki entry:

Quote:

Perhaps the most notorious instance involved getting a Babel Fish out of a dispenser in the hold of the Vogon ship. This extremely tricky puzzle appeared very early in the game, required the player to use a variety of obscure items in a very specific fashion, and had to be "solved" within a limited number of turns. Failure to "solve" the Babel Fish puzzle did not kill the player, but rendered the remainder of the game unwinnable.

The Hitchiker's Guide game, while totally awesome and enjoyable has a bunch of puzzles like that. It really was more an Infocom thing as far as I remember. For example at another point late (like 80% done) in HHGttG, you can die if you didn't feed the dog that you saw in the first 5-10 minutes of the game. I know I got stuck in Zork I a bunch of times when I didn't have the right item or when I got stuck in hell because I didn't have candles or something.

What you mention is but an opinion, of a single game, and grants it the status of a trend example. Going from there to stating its creator was the executioner of the genre is a mighty big leap.

I thought from the sources it would be easily seen that the language used is a bit tongue in cheek. However the point stands, these sorts of puzzles were the death of point and click. True, GK3 is not solely responsible, other notable offenders include The Dig's infuriating "get the alien robot to fix the lens" puzzle.

It really saddens me because I'd love to see this genre coming back, however some serious overhauls of puzzle designs are needed.

Oh, I did not read the whole article, just a couple bits. Now that you phrase it like that, it makes much more sense. I also think it was inevitable in a way: even taking into account the various settings adventure games took place in, just how many puzzles can be created that do not feel derivative or illogical? I definitely agree with you that puzzle design will need a major overhaul if this planned resurgence is to happen.

In other news, another Minecraft variation has popped up: Yogventures. It looks pretty good, too.

For anyone interested in more substantial gaming on iOS devices, Ryan Payton's (Metal Gear Solid 4, Halo: Reach) new studio has a Kickstarter going. $10 gets you a copy of the game on iOS for both the iPhone and the iPad and what they're describing sounds really cool.

It's also too bad you aren't crediting the real work done by the rest of Origin.

WC kickstarter sans Roberts would be better. I don't forgive for that movie, you SOB.

There's a WC-"inspired" (along with pretty much every other seminal space combat game) project up at Starlight: Inception.

Not really sure what to think of it at this point. Seems to be a big push for community contributions (hence the low goal), so maybe it'll be designed to be quite moddable and be relatively sparse in content?

^^^That's a protoype, the actual game will have miniatures instead of tokens.

Basically its a squad-based zombie survival board game. You can customize your squad in many ways with weapons, armor, food, and other equipment for different play styles, and their stated intent is to have no game session be the same. There's a bunch of videos, pictures and info on the site. Looks like it could be a fuckload of fun. It's already funded five times over, and the kickstarter project ends in 11 days.

Is this a joke? I was under the impression that there was some sort of vetting done on the projects. He actually uses the phrase "I'm an ideas man" in the FAQ, I'm fucking speechless this got put on the site.

I feel like this guy is just trolling kickstarter. It's actually funny instead of said if you look at it that way. Of course, if he actually makes his goal and takes people's money, then it will cease being funny.

Edit: Not Steve Jackson, in case anyone was thinking that. The "I have millions of dollars and also own a pizza shop" guy.

I feel like this guy is just trolling kickstarter. It's actually funny instead of said if you look at it that way. Of course, if he actually makes his goal and takes people's money, then it will cease being funny.

Edit: Not Steve Jackson, in case anyone was thinking that. The "I have millions of dollars and also own a pizza shop" guy.

I wondered that too. To be honest I actually find it a bit sad that someone could be so disconnected from reality.

There isint a hope of him hitting the target, however I find it a bit concerning that he has managed to raise 20k

I feel like this guy is just trolling kickstarter. It's actually funny instead of said if you look at it that way. Of course, if he actually makes his goal and takes people's money, then it will cease being funny.

Edit: Not Steve Jackson, in case anyone was thinking that. The "I have millions of dollars and also own a pizza shop" guy.

I wondered that too. To be honest I actually find it a bit sad that someone could be so disconnected from reality.

There isint a hope of him hitting the target, however I find it a bit concerning that he has managed to raise 20k

I know there's a piece on The Daily WTF somewhere about a freelance developer who is aggressively approached by some guy who saw World of Warcraft take off and thought, "I could do that." Except the loon had never made a game in his life, let alone an online one, and couldn't write a line of code. So he approached this freelancer with a "business plan", a budget of $50k, and an offer to pay in company stock only. I think there was something in the business plan about breaking even once they passed a million subscribers.

Damn. Never played OGRE in any form, but I would consider throwing money at Steve Jackson games on principle. Problem is, I'd like the game itself, and $100 is not a chunk of change I throw down willy-nilly.

Glad to see it's well-funded, though. I'm really enjoying the effect Kickstarter is having on gaming.

Is this a joke? I was under the impression that there was some sort of vetting done on the projects.

If there is any, it's not much. Remember, any funded Kickstarter pays some fees to the Kickstarter.com people, so they're incentivized to accept a ton of Kickstarters.

Poison chalice, if they start letting a lot of projects of that calibre (i.e none), potential backers are not going to be motivated to shift through a bunch of crap to find the real gems. Obviously the end result being that everyone loses out.

Damn. Never played OGRE in any form, but I would consider throwing money at Steve Jackson games on principle. Problem is, I'd like the game itself, and $100 is not a chunk of change I throw down willy-nilly.

Glad to see it's well-funded, though. I'm really enjoying the effect Kickstarter is having on gaming.

This may be hard to tell from the Kickstarter page, and in case you don't have time to visit Wikipedia, OGRE is a fairly simple and accessible asymmetric hexbased wargame. One player gets the insanely powerful OGRE, while the other side designs a conventional combined-arms army with artillery, tanks, and infantry. A great part of the fun is for the defender (i.e. non-OGRE) to mix units to switch tactics, as well as decide which parts of the OGRE to attack first.

I never played the board version myself, but I did play a lot of the '86 computer edition.

I've been a bit torn over Kickstarter. On one hand I like the enthusiasm and the feeling of getting back to the roots of what gaming was in the old days. On the other, I'm worried that most of these projects will end up being huge disappointments.

With that in mind, I like the look of Grim Dawn. It has experienced developers (the guys who made Titan Quest), and the project is in an advanced stage, not just a twinkle in someone's eye.

It might be surprising to outsiders, but $100 is really peanuts to the hardcore wargaming crowd. Most of the guys doing this kind of thing are older professionals who drop $70-$100 on the basic box and then $30 per suppliment. I used to help out at the Clash of Arms booth at Origins and saw guys walk away with $1000-$2000 in boxed games. Don't even get me started on miniatures. There is plenty of money out there for people with a good name and history in the industry. Steve Jackson is definitely one of them.

The Hitchiker's Guide game, while totally awesome and enjoyable has a bunch of puzzles like that. It really was more an Infocom thing as far as I remember. For example at another point late (like 80% done) in HHGttG, you can die if you didn't feed the dog that you saw in the first 5-10 minutes of the game. I know I got stuck in Zork I a bunch of times when I didn't have the right item or when I got stuck in hell because I didn't have candles or something.

You get a second chance to feed the dog later on when you play through the opening as Ford.On a different note, I have so far fundedWasteland 2Shadowrun ReturnsStarlight Inception.My wallet is crying right now.

It might be surprising to outsiders, but $100 is really peanuts to the hardcore wargaming crowd.

The more "holy crap" comment is "Why in the world would SJ Games believe that a mere 200 people would pre-order?" Their original goal was set way too low, even assuming that people would merely pre-order the game and not buy any extras.

I cannot comment on what I've funded because it makes me sad. Although I'm amused by the new Shadowrun All-Digital Tier because I'm thinking of lowering my pledge because of it.